Maybe They Weren't Such A Good Deal After All
by Cheyennes
Summary: The tale of how Jaz's shopping trip went horribly awry.
1. Chapter 1

Jaz realized she was in trouble fairly quickly. Considering all the hot zones she had been in during her career, how was it possible that a shopping trip might be her end?! She just HAD to have those boots, didn't she? Now she didn't have the boots but she was sporting two new bullet holes in her body. Worst. . . accessories. . . ever. If she didn't get herself out of this situation, she just knew McG would make sure there was some sort of smart ass saying on her gravestone. She shuddered to think of the things he would come up with and then have engraved. He would have the last word and those words would follow her to eternity. The thought was more motivation to survive.

Usually she enjoyed being alone during her city shopping trips, but now she wished she had let McG come with her. He'd offered to come and hold her bags but she had declined. She hadn't wanted to deal with him hitting on every attractive woman in the various stores. This morning she thought it would have irritated her so much that she wouldn't have enjoyed the trip. Now she was irritated for a whole different, and much more painful, reason. What she wouldn't give to see McG, or another member of her team, miraculously appear at her side. She could definitely use the help but she also knew she couldn't waste time wishing for a miracle. It hadn't worked when she was a child and it wouldn't work now. The reality was that her survival was up to her. Or at least it was up to her until her teammates came looking for her. She had no doubt that they would. She just had to keep herself alive until their arrival.

It was clear that the guys tracking her weren't amateurs. They had placed their shots to quickly incapacitate her but not immediately kill her. If the cell phone in her hip pocket hadn't taken the first bullet, she would have been on the ground writhing in pain as they had obviously planned. Since her assailants didn't seem to be worried about collateral damage, she moved herself, and them, away from the city center. Now she glided silently through the warehouses on the waterfront taking care to prevent any blood splatter from giving away her location. She could hear the heavy footsteps of the men hunting for her. They weren't exactly quiet, and other than the sound of the waves against the docks, the area was devoid of noise. During one of their search passes she had gotten a quick glimpse of their faces. They didn't look familiar. As careful as her team was on their missions, she found it hard to believe any group had tracked them back to their base. So why were these men hunting her? It was a mystery she didn't have time to solve.

She was starting to shiver with cold when she knew it was still quite warm outside. McG had lectured the team more than once about that being a warning sign of significant blood loss. He would be surprised to learn she really did pay attention to him. She tucked herself into the shadows to check her wounds again. Unfortunately they were still there. After looking them over, and tightening her blood-soaked makeshift bandages, which was a less than pleasant experience, she knew she had no time left to continue leading these guys on a chase. They didn't seem inclined to give up so she made the choice to switch to lethal force. She quietly began picking off her enemies one by one. She knew she needed to finish them quickly before her wounds made it impossible for her to remain on her feet. It was becoming increasingly clear that things were rapidly headed in that direction.


	2. Chapter 2

Dalton walked into their Quonset hut and looked at his team gathered at the kitchen table. One seat was glaringly empty.

"Where's Jaz?"

"Haven't seen her yet," McG replied.

"She was supposed to be back before dark."

He knew he didn't even need to say that out loud. Everyone at the table knew she had only gotten permission for a day trip. While Jaz liked to push her limits, she had never been late returning from liberty before.

The sound of the secure communications link distracted him from his irritation. A few quick keystrokes later and Patricia's face filled the screen.

"Adam."

"Deputy Director Campbell, what can we do for you?"

"You should turn on your TV to local station 6."

He turned sideways as Preach grabbed the remote and turned it on. The broadcast news reporter was speaking of an attack that had occurred earlier in the nearby city. Apparently some foreign princess had decided to take some time out of her schedule to do some personal shopping. Instead of being able to enjoy her trip, she was attacked in the late afternoon by multiple armed suspects but she was able to flee. He wondered where her bodyguards had been when the drama occurred. After listening closely to the report, he was of the opinion that she definitely needed to hire a new team. A brief clip of security camera footage was shown of the attack and Dalton dropped his mug causing his entire team to turn and look at him. He knew those moves and that was no princess.

"It's Jaz."

"You're correct, Adam. We have confirmed the princess is in her home country. An illness caused her to cancel her planned trip. Jaz does look similar enough to pass."

"Where is she now?"

"We aren't certain. There's limited camera coverage on the fringes of the city. The last view we got was of her leading her pursuers on a merry chase towards the waterfront."

"Permission to retrieve?"

"I wouldn't be calling if you didn't already have it. Adam, there's one more thing you should know, we saw visible blood on Jaz's shirt after the first spat of gunfire. We think she was shot at least one time. Impossible to tell the severity from the camera images we found."

"Understood. We'll be departing shortly."

Without a word to one another, they ran to the cage and loaded up on communications and small arms only. They needed to blend in with the occupants of the city not look like a group of commandos on a raid. In addition to grabbing weapons, McG quickly put a pack of supplies together geared toward a gunshot wound. His worry was particularly high since it had been hours since the shooting had occurred. What kind of condition would Jaz be in when they found her? Elijah's loss had rocked the team but Jaz's loss would destroy them.

The entire team, silent with their own worries, loaded into a Humvee and drove it to the last coordinates that Noah could provide. Looking at the options, it appeared the large warehouse district would have been Jaz's best tactical move. They broke into teams of two, communicating only when necessary, as they cleared one row of warehouses after another. There was no resistance, and as they searched for Jaz, they watched as the body count began rising. Based on the wounds, a Ka-Bar had been used, so they felt fairly confident that Jaz was the assailant. She was taking care of her pursuers permanently.

The sound of Noah's voice over comms caught their attention, "Captain, we did a fly by over the area and infrared shows a heat signature, but no movement, in the third warehouse to your left. East corner."

Dalton and McG quickly headed towards the area mentioned and then began to methodically clear the space. Blood splatter was noted in several places on the floor as they approached the east corner. McG pushed past Dalton and dropped to the floor with a flashlight looking into the space beneath a shelving unit and the floor.

"Jaz," he whispered in disbelief.

She had really wedged herself underneath the storage unit. She was in a tiny ball and was clearly unconscious. If not for the thermal reading, they never would have found her. McG stretched his arm out and pressed his fingers firmly against her neck checking her pulse. He was reassured by the flutter he could feel. She was still alive. He also put his hand in front of her mouth feeling the gently puff of her breath.

He looked up at Dalton from his position on the floor, "We need to get her out of there. Now."

Dalton stepped back to take a better look at the shelving unit just as Preach and Amir arrived. It wasn't affixed to the wall and it looked sturdy enough to move.

"Preach, Amir, let's clean everything off these shelves and pick them up. Jaz is underneath."

McG knew that was a much better idea than trying to pull her out. In just a few minutes the rest of the team picked up the shelves and moved them out of the way.

Now they all got a much better view of her and it wasn't good. The blood they had noticed previously on the floor was just a small portion of the total blood loss. There was a fair amount of it pooled under her and in the light of McG's penlight they could see her face held no color. Courtesy of their body cams, DC was also seeing the same worrying view.

"Adam, we're sending medical assistance to your location," Patricia's voice stated calmly.

McG and Dalton carefully rolled her onto her back before McG grabbed the front of what was left of her favorite shirt and tore it open. This was no time for modesty. He gently untied the two bands of fabric she had used as makeshift bandaging. They were sticking to her skin, and when he carefully pulled them back, an ugly chest wound and an abdominal wound were revealed. Both were continuing to bleed sluggishly but it didn't appear any vital organs had been hit. Unfortunately when they tilted her on her side there were no exit wounds which meant McG had to find the bullets.

"Amir, I need light. Top, I need you."

"Preach, Amir, set perimeter positions and let us know if anything approaches," Dalton directed.

Amir found the switch for the lights in the warehouse which helped the treatment process considerably. Once Dalton was sitting on the ground next to Jaz's still form, McG set up a transfusion. With that first step out of the way, he grabbed some antiseptic and poured it over the wounds. There was no response from Jaz and he fervently hoped she remained unconscious throughout the next step. He took a deep breath before he picked up a scalpel and expanded the entry sites. He gently began probing to locate the bullets and removed them as soon as they were found. Once he had cleared all the visible fabric and debris he could, he packed the wounds, sighing in relief that Jaz had remained still throughout the procedure. He would have had a fight on his hands if she had regained consciousness. McG tucked a blanket from his pack around her and checked her vitals again before turning back to Dalton.

"Doing okay, Top?"

"So far, so good. Jaz?"

"The bleeding should slow even more now that the bullets are out and your blood will help restore some of the volume that she lost. Infection is the biggest risk."

Assured that Top was doing okay, McG knelt carefully to pick Jaz up and sat down with her in his lap holding her close. She needed his warmth and he knew he would be able to monitor her breathing much better in this position.


	3. Chapter 3

Preach returned from scouting the immediate area, "As DC reported, I didn't see or hear anyone else. Jaz managed to take out all six armed combatants with just her knife."

"I'm sure she was wishing for a gun," Dalton muttered.

They all knew he was right. While Jaz was proficient in a bunch of different fighting styles, and various types of weapons, she was an expert with any type of firearm. She felt naked without a gun but Dalton never let her take one with her on her city trips. After all, she was only going shopping, not infiltrating an enemy camp. He couldn't have possibly imagined the events that had unfolded today. Of course, that didn't stop him from blaming himself anyway. His team's safety was his responsibility.

They could all hear the sound of sirens approaching in the distance and it was enough to disturb Jaz. McG looked down as she shifted position. A few seconds later her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him. It took a minute for her to focus.

"You found me," she whispered.

"Of course we did. You were late for dinner. You know how Top feels about it when we don't return from day trips on time."

Jaz did know.

"But I think you're off the hook. Top saw you on the news so you have the best possible excuse for being late. He switched from unhappy to worried in the time it took him to watch you being attacked. By the way, nice work, Jaz."

"I had to live. I didn't want you putting a smart ass remark on my tombstone," she whispered.

McG smiled down at her, "I probably could have come up with something good. Maybe something involving the sin of vanity?"

Jaz wanted to reply but she was exhausted. Instead she leaned more firmly against him while trying to ignore the burning pain from her wounds. As she looked down she saw blood traveling through the IV line attached to the needle she could feel in her hand. She knew Top had to be close by but he was out of her line of sight. She closed her eyes and snuggled back into McG's warmth feeling his arms tighten around her. A second later she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head and she was incredibly grateful that they had found her. A little while later she heard him digging around in his bag. It was unfortunately a sound she was familiar with from previous team injuries. His hands began gently touching her hand.

"Preach, could you unhook Top? I'm going to switch Jaz out to fluids."

She heard the murmur of Preach and Top talking though she couldn't catch the words. It wasn't long before she felt Top crouch down next to her. His movements were as familiar to her as her own. When she wasn't as woozy she would have to give some thought as to why she was so aware of him. She opened her eyes and saw the worry in his. Preach and Amir had also crouched near him and shared the same expression.

"Hey," she said to them, "thanks for coming."

The sound of gurney wheels rattling into the warehouse cut off any reply they would have made. McG got to his feet, still holding Jaz in his arms, and laid her gently down on the mattress making soothing sounds as she groaned in pain.

"McG, can Jaz make it back to base?" Top asked.

"Actually there's a trauma center not far from here."

"Not easy enough to secure. I want her safe. Until DC gets the news out that this was a case of mistaken identity, there's the possibility that more people could come gunning for her."

McG didn't like delaying her medical treatment but he also knew that Top was right. He spoke to the local paramedic briefly who then injected Jaz's line with medication. He waited a few minutes for the morphine to take effect before her looked at her wounds again. After some poking and muttering under his breath he replaced the blood-soaked bandages with clean ones.

"She can make it back. The bleeding is slowing and I don't see any obvious signs of infection. We gave her some morphine so she'll be comfortable for the trip."

Dalton noticed some of the tension in Jaz's face had indeed disappeared. Additional blankets were added to the original blanket that McG had given her and she was strapped to the gurney to keep her safe. Her hair had fallen across her eyes and he took a second to brush it out of the way. No one noticed as he brushed his thumb across her soft cheek a couple of extra times.

Jaz slept peacefully while they waited for the military medics to arrive. When they did finally appear, she was gently loaded into their ambulance and McG and Dalton jumped in the back with her. They were almost back to base when Jaz startled them.

"They were great boots," she sighed.

McG looked down at her and smiled at the out of the blue comment, "Is that what you were planning on buying?"

"I was going to get other things too but the boots were such a good deal I had to go and get them. Maybe next time I'll just shop on-line."

Dalton remembered seeing her carry a bunch of store ads to her room after breakfast this morning. Actually he guessed that was now yesterday morning. She'd had the look of a woman on a mission and the rest of them had stayed out of her way.

The entire team was sensitive to the fact that she was the only woman on the team. They never made a big deal out of it but they knew her desires were different. She had more clothes than the rest of them put together. While she enjoyed trying on new things, and creating new outfits, the male contingent of the team just wanted a couple clean shirts that didn't need to be ironed and pants that were easy to move around in. Her unique needs were one of the main reasons why Dalton never turned down her requests to go into the city. She didn't ask often. However, this was one time he wished he had put her off. It would have been easier to deal with her anger than see her hurting.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Thanks for all the great reviews. Hopefully you will enjoy this last chapter as well.

Dalton watched as Jaz continued trying to push through the hazy feeling from the morphine she'd been given. He could tell she had questions and she wanted answers.

"Who were those guys, Top?"

"Believe it or not, it was a case of mistaken identity. They thought you were the princess of a small country experiencing some political unrest."

She snorted.

"I'm sure they were plenty surprised too, Jaz. They thought they were going to easily capture her but ended up tangling with you. They were probably wondering when the princess went through combat training."

"One less problem for her to worry about."

"More like six less problems for her to worry about."

Jaz's memory from earlier was unreliable. She remembered three assailants but she had to admit she was pretty hazy after asshole number three. The pain and the blood loss were more of an issue at that point. Her movements had become more or less automatic with the goal of staying alive. When she didn't think she could go on any longer she had decided to find a safe place to wait for help. She had known it was coming if she could just hold out until it arrived. She was lucky the team had managed to find her because the plan had originally been to alert them to her presence when they got close. Unfortunately by then she had already passed out.

She must have drifted off again because the next thing she knew bright light was shining in her face and people in masks were all around her. She rolled away, to the consternation of the people around her, hit the floor with a thud, and backed into what felt like a wall. She flinched as someone crouched down next to her and pushed their mask down. It took her a second to realize it was McG.

"Of course you would wake up now, Jaz. We only needed two more minutes. We were about to give you some anesthesia and close your wounds."

Her teeth started chattering. She couldn't decide what was worse the burning pain or the chill of the room. She looked down at herself to see she was in a flimsy hospital gown that was rapidly staining with blood. It occurred to her that throwing herself on the floor might not have been her best idea. She closed her eyes for a second to try and gather her scattered thoughts. The sound of gloves being removed caught her attention a second before a warm hand stroked down the side of her face.

"Everything's alright, Jaz. Trust me to keep you safe. Once we get your wounds closed we'll get you right back out to everyone. Top is pacing the floor and Amir and Preach are trying to stay out of his way. We don't want to make them wait too long or Top will come in here."

She opened her eyes and focused her attention on him for a few seconds before nodding her head. He gently wrapped his arms around her and picked her off the floor carrying her the few steps back to the gurney. It was a good thing too because she didn't think she could have walked back herself. He pulled his mask back up but didn't bother with his gloves since he wouldn't be the one closing the wounds. Fortunately for Jaz, he had found a plastic surgeon who could minimize the scarring. Instead he held her hand between his own. He was well aware that she was putting her trust in him when she was having such a difficult time processing what was happening.

"We're going to cover your mouth with a mask, Jaz, and I want you to count backwards from 10."

He nodded at someone above her head and she watched as the mask came over her nose and mouth. She instinctively held her breath.

"You need to breath, Jaz," McG wryly informed her.

She took a halting breath and then another one.

"I don't hear you counting," McG teased.

She didn't hear anything else. The next thing she knew it was quiet and she was warm for the first time in a long time. She struggled for a couple minutes to pry her eyes open and was finally successful. The room was pretty dark which was much more soothing than the bright light of earlier. She heard movement to her left and turned her head to see Top looking at her.

"You're going to be fine, Jaz. In fact, if everything goes well, we'll be going home in the morning after you've eaten."

"Okay."

"McG said you were confused in the OR. How are you feeling now?"

"Okay?"

Top smiled at her, "You answered my question with a question. Are you in pain?"

Now that he mentioned it she could feel pain gnawing at her from multiple locations.

"A little but I don't want anything else. The pain medications mess with my head. I need to think."

"Actually I'm the one that needs to think. You just need to rest and heal."

She was distracted by McG's entrance, "I see my favorite patient is awake. How're you feeling?"

"I just asked her and she's hurting."

"I'm not surprised you're having some pain, Jaz. You were shot twice, ran around with the bullets still in you, had field surgery, irritated the wounds again in the OR, and then had more surgery to close the wounds. I would be surprised if you weren't having any pain which is why I'm here."

Top drew her attention back to him with a, "See, even McG agrees that pain is to be expected. I also know he agrees with me that a little bit of pain medication is the best thing for you."

"No, Top. I'll be fine."

She felt warmth flow through her and looked suspiciously in McG's direction in time to see him pull a syringe out of the line.

"If looks could kill I'd be dead on the floor," he said with a chuckle, "It hasn't been that long since we got out of the OR, Jaz. I know the pain doesn't seem terrible right now but it's going to get a lot worse when the rest of the anesthesia wears off. You'll live, unlike your poor cell phone, but you're going to hurt. Sleep is the best thing for you right now. I promise we'll switch you over to oral pain meds later today."

She could already feel the medication pulling at her. She hated the feeling and couldn't stop herself from tensing her muscles which just made her pain worse.

"Don't fight it, Jaz, I'll still be here when you wake up," Top assured her as he rested his hand on top of her smaller one.

He was true to his word. The next time she woke her room was full of sunshine. He stood almost immediately and pushed the bedside table over to her.

"Just in time for your breakfast delivery. Amir cooked for you."

He pulled off the lid and she confirmed immediately that this was no hospital food. Amir had made her cinnamon swirl pancakes.

"Amir said this would be more gentle on your stomach than most of his other meals. He also broiled you a couple pieces of Canadian bacon for the protein. He suggested you eat the pancakes first to see how your stomach does with them before you try the bacon."

She picked up her fork and ate a few bites. It was good but she wasn't really hungry. She pushed it aside and looked back to him.

"When can I leave?"

"McG said in a couple hours if you keep down what you ate."

"I'll be fine," she said confidently.

"We'll see. I'm going to head back to the hut to shower and change. McG's coming. Stay out of trouble until he gets here."

As soon as he turned his back she stuck her tongue out at him. She knew it wasn't very mature but come on. She managed to survive an attack by six assailants while wounded. She was pretty sure she could survive in a hospital room until McG came back. Once he was gone she scooted to the side of the bed and stood using her IV pole for support. She unplugged it and pushed it in front of her to the bathroom. While she didn't have any clothes yet, she figured she could at least wash up.

When she came out, McG was sitting on the side of her bed with his arm crossed, and a look of disgruntlement on his face. She hurt and she knew the sweat beading on her pale face wouldn't go unnoticed. She saw he put a bag of her clothes on the chair next to the bed.

"I bet you were probably out of that bed before Top was down the hall, weren't you?"

She would have given him a dirty look if not for the fact that her entire focus was on getting herself back over to the bed. He was already standing next to it when she finally arrived. When she finally eased her butt back onto the mattress he bent down and gently picked up her feet putting them on the mattress before pulling the covers to her chin. She closed her eyes and he grabbed a washcloth and dabbed at the sweat on her face. When the task was completed to his satisfaction she heard him took a seat.

A few minutes later when the pain waned she opened her eyes to discover the whole team was in her room and that the sun was gone. Preach was looking at her from the foot of the bed.

"When did you get here?" she asked.

"A couple of hours ago. Top and McG have been here most of the day and Amir and I got worried when they didn't bring you home."

"As I told them while you were sleeping, we'll take you home but you have to be more careful. Your wore yourself out this morning so much so that you slept the day away. You need to be willing to ask for and accept help," McG told her.

"Your other option is to stay here a few more days to recover and I'm starting to think that might be the better option," Top told her.

Crap. If Top decided she was staying she was going to be staying. An order was an order. She put on her most innocent angelic face before replying, "I was wrong before. I apologize for jumping out of bed the second your back was turned. I think the pain medication affected my judgment."

She thought she saw McG roll his eyes and realized she might be laying it on a bit thick. She focused her attention back on Top who was stroking his beard and watching her.

"Okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Don't make me regret it."

She kept a solemn look on her face as she nodded her head but inside she was doing a happy dance because she had won that round. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Preach turn away to hide a smile from Top. Clearly Preach could see what was going on in her head.

Two hours later she was bundled into what looked like a golf cart and driven up to the front door of their hut. She carefully got out with Top's help and walked into their space. It was comforting. There was no place like home even if it was military housing. She made her way to her bedroom and found that someone had already turned back the covers. Exhaustion washed over her in a wave and the bed looked inviting. After lowering herself to a seated position on the side, she closed her eyes for a second before a sound caught her attention. She opened her eyes to see that Top had knelt down in front of her and started unlacing the shoes that McG had put on her. Once he had them off he helped her lower herself to the mattress and she was quickly covered up. Sleep came quickly.

The next morning she was gradually pulled awake by two smells. The first was the scent of cooking food and the second was a much more comforting smell: Top's aftershave. She stretched very carefully and turned her head toward the window blinking in the sunlight. There was a box on the chair in the corner. She was fairly certain it hadn't been there the night before. She pushed herself upright, quietly cursing at the pain, and got to her feet. She shuffled her way over to it. Gently she lifted the lid and was shocked to see the boots she had planned to buy. For a second she thought this might be a pain medication induced dream. Tears blurred her vision when she touched them and discovered they were in fact real. She smiled and turned towards the doorway just in time to see Top turning away. While the boots were gorgeous, she would cherish them more because of the thought and care that he had put into finding and purchasing them for her. They were her very first gift from him. The flutter in her chest caused by the gesture made it almost worth getting shot. She put the lid back on the box and headed out to join the men of her team including the one man that held her heart.


End file.
